In a new interview with The Mercury News, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich discusses the band's All Within My Hands charity, as well as their ongoing tour in support of the Hardwired… To Self-Destruct album. An excerpt follows.

Q: This current tour kicked off in 2017, and I see you have dates announced through the summer of 2019. That’s a lot of roadwork. Are you tired of touring yet?

Lars Ulrich: "We have the luxury, and we are very fortunate, to be able to set a touring schedule that works really well for us. We kind of set boundaries. We have a two-week rule, so that after two weeks we come home and see our families and kids and get a sense of San Francisco. So, for about a decade, we’ve had a really good setup in terms of how we balance all of it.

"It takes longer to play the same amount of dates. But the good news is that our chances for not losing our minds - or for playing all the shows, physically, mentally - are much higher, because we have a pace that we feel is at the right level for us. So, it’s good. We still have to go to Australia. We still have to go to Japan. We have a couple of other things planned after Europe."

Q: Any chance the tour will reach into 2020?

Ulrich: "This may just dip into the beginning of 2020."

Q: Whoa! Now, that’s how you support a new record!

A: "The greatest thing about that (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct) is that we may have made our most successful record in 25 years in terms of reception. Obviously, this record isn’t shipping as many units as records did 10 or 20 years ago. But the perception is that it’s probably our most well-received record since the Black Album. So, to have that 30-plus years into your career, and to make a record that connects at that level - still - is crazy cool."

Read more at The Mercury News.

Metallica raised $1.3 million at their inaugural Helping Hands Concert and Auction held in San Francisco. Those funds will be used to work with their partners at Feeding America and the American Association of Community Colleges as All Within My Hands continues to tackle the issues of hunger and workforce education and work to create sustainable communities.

They were joined by their friends Cage The Elephant, as both bands performed acoustically at the intimate Masonic Auditorium. In addition to the successful auction items that sold during the event, the instruments played by Metallica that night as well as a number of unique experiences – some of which personally involve members of the band – are still available to bid on through November 9th at 5 PM Pacific Time.

Metallica comments: “There are so many people to thank who made this event happen that we don’t know where to start! From all of the generous sponsors and those who donated auction items to the mighty Metallica crew and all the folks at the Masonic; to all of you who purchased tickets and contributed in any way you were able, and to the AWMH Executive Board: thank you!

“And a huge shout out to the musicians who joined the band on stage, Avi, David, Cody, and Henry, as well as our MC for the night, Kurt Braunohler. This was truly an amazing effort and we are so proud and humbled to have all of this love and support in our first year. We’re already starting the plans for the next one!”

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Metallica performed at their annual All Within My Hands charity event, this past Saturday, November 3rd, at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, CA. All proceeds from the show went to Metallica's charity, which benefits various local organizations in their hometown.

Metallica’s setlist included:

“Disposable Heroes”
“When A Blind Man Cries” (Deep Purple cover)
“The Unforgiven”
“Please Don’t Judas Me” (Nazareth cover)
“Turn The Page” (Bob Seger cover)
“Bleeding Me”
“Veteran Of The Psychic Wars” (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
“Nothing Else Matters”
“All Within My Hands”
“Enter Sandman”
“The Four Horsemen”
“Hardwired”

Check out fan-filmed video below: